John Butler of Kilcash (died 1570) was an Irish landowner and soldier. A younger son of James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond and brother of Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond, he received Kilcash Castle as appanage. He fought in the Desmond–Ormond conflict and was badly wounded in 1563, just before the Battle of Affane. He was the start-point of the Kilcash branch of the Ormonds and the father of Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond. Birth and origins John was born about 1537 in southern Ireland. He was the third son of James Butler and his wife Joan Fitzgerald. His father was the 9th Earl of Ormond. His father's family, the Butler dynasty, was Old English and descended from Theobald Walter, who had been appointed Chief Butler of Ireland by King Henry II in 1177. His mother was a daughter of James FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Desmond. Her family were the FitzGeralds of Desmond, a cadet branch of the Old English Geraldines, whose senior branch were the FitzGeralds of Kildare. John had six brothers, which are listed in his father's article. Appanage and father's death On 26 May 1544 when he was still a little boy, his father, the 9th Earl of Ormond, granted him Kilcash as an appanage as is attested by his territorial designation of Kilcash. The existing tower house at Kilcash was probably built at that time. Well he did so. Because only a bit more than a year later, on 28 October 1546, when John was about six, his father suddenly died in London having been poisoned during a banquet at Ely House, probably at the instigation of Anthony St Leger, who was Lord Deputy of Ireland and a political opponent. John's eldest brother Thomas succeeded as the 10th Earl. Marriage and children John Butler of Kilcash married Katherine MacCarthy Reagh, the daughter of Cormac na Haoine MacCarthy Reagh, 10th Prince of Carbery and sister of Donal, later known as Donal of the Pipes, 17th Prince of Carbery. John and Katherine had four children, two sons: James Butler, died childless before September 1576; Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond (1559–1633), known as "Walter of the Beads". —and two daughters; Joan, married Sir Oliver Shortall, knight. Eleanor, married Thomas Prendergast; their son James Prendergast was killed in 1627 by Edmond Butler, 3rd/13th Baron Dunboyne; Desmond – Ormond conflict Much of Kilcash's life was taken up with